Leslie

I think it is very bad manners to criticise shortcomings such as spelling.

I have to admit to a different set of values to the "modernised" ones though.

Les

Leslie

Wouldn't be surprised if it was me on about my "Sprots Bikle" UB.

Years ago the book of "how to fly" in the RAF had an article about Helicopters. Trouble was it was spelt "Hicopleters". They were known as that for years after that.

Just seen my typo

Les

[Edited by Leslie - 19/06/2003 20:29:52]

boxst

Leslie:

It depends on the context. I wouldn't go and correct every post that has something spelt incorrectly (I would be here all day for a start!), but sometimes it is appropriate to correct someones spelling and / or grammar.

Certainly I expect e-mails from the people who work for me to be spelt correctly. Just to make sure that if they send something to clients, I can be sure it will be correct.

Steve.

Gordo

Yoza - lol, I edited it to remove bits replicating posts already made.

I find it slightly insulting and condescending when you suggest [sic] I should have better things to worry about.

a) I do
b) You are symptomatic of the declining standards that this post is about if you suggest that we shouldn't care

I shall try not to edit this one

Gordo

Leslie

Yes I understand what you mean, Steve. I was referring to posts on this net with my post though.

Les

MarkO

Does anyone else find it ironic that a post berating the ability of people to spell has a glaring punctuation error in its topic title?

Have to say, other than the odd typo, peoples' inability to spell whilst emailing or posting on BBSes really winds me up. They all use the excuse that it doesn't matter as long as you can communicate, but frankly it's not a decent excuse. If I can spell/punctuate and grammatically structure my posts for 99.9% of the time, I've no idea why other people can't do it.

Reading badly typed, spelt and punctuated posts on a BBS just makes me think that the author is probably ignorant - which is a shame, 'cos in a lot of cases the worst offenders often have a lot of interesting things to say.

south-star

I must admit mine has gone downhill in recent years.If it was a CV or something i'd use a dictionary,on here why bother tbh.
Everyone gets the drift.

Shadow

originally posted by MarkO
LOL

I know, I didn't say "punctuation as well" though did I??

Shadow

I wasn't talking about one or two words spelt wrong.

I was talking about some peoples (people's )inability to spell any words correctly in a post



I just read a couple of threads where some people couldn't spell anything correctly......

MarkO

The main reasons to bother are firstly, because it takes no more effort to spell/punctuate properly than it does to write badly, and secondly because (assuming you're educated enough to be able to spell/punctuate correctly) a lack of spelling/punctuation makes you look ignorant. Which, as I've said before, is a shame - because people will pay far more attention to a well-written post than a badly-written one, regardless of content. So you can be the smartest knife in the draw and write badly, and people will think you're thick. Whereas you can be completely stupid but write well, and people will at least read what you write. It's all about presentation

I don't think it's any surprise that the people whose opinions I respect (because they are well thought-out, logical & witty) are those who spell and punctuate correctly. Likewise, it never fails to surprise me that the people who write/punctuate/spell badly seem to be those who are usually ignorant, bigoted and offensive....

MarkO

Mind you, we all make mistakes. Add an 'er' to 'draw' in the above post.

south-star

Oh right,that sorts that out then....

ex-webby

Do we really think it's important enough to start an entire thread dedicated to insulting people that they either can't spell, or are thick?

sammyh

iTrader: (1)

I have to agree with Simon.

My spelling is not as good as it used to be and I would agree that it has a lot to do with spellcheckers.

As long as the context of the post is understood who cares?

It took me a bit longer than usual to type this now so I could check the spelling/typing and there is probably still a mistake or 10

But I am not bothered

scooby_si

i agree it strikes as ironic that you call these bad spellers ignorant etc yet you yourself are being prejudice by judging people by the way they type lol i can see why some people get annoyed by it but i really dont think it's a biggy just let it lie
Si
PS l0ok /\/\4 0! 5p3l+ m0! \/\/urdz 9ud lmao

MarkO

Simon, I'm not insulting people for being 'thick'. If people genuinely can't spell or punctuate, then I don't really have anything against them (although I do think it's a shame - and a damning indictment on our education system - that in this day and age adults regularly seem to have to use a dictionary in order to spell stuff correctly ).

What irks me is that people who clearly have the skill and education to write properly don't bother out of laziness, making it harder for the rest of us to understand their point. And whether you like it or not, the subconscious perception will always be that somebody who doesn't spell/punctuate correctly is less well-educated or intelligent than somebody who does. It's one of the reason life is so unfair on dyslexics - they're assumed to be stupid, when in fact in many cases their intelligence is above average - the problem is in expressing their thoughts and opinions.

Liken it to a pub conversation, though, and you'll get my drift. Consider somebody f'ing and blinding, adding in 'like', 'right', 'see', and 'mate' as every other word in a sentence, and who mis-pronounces half of their words (dropping H's, etc). Compare that to somebody who speaks clearly, with goo pronunciation (regardless of accent) and without needing to use expletives - the natural tendency is to assume the latter person is more intelligent, regardless of whether that is actually the case or not.

Another good example is USING ALL CAPITALS. It's seen as shouting, and seen as bad form, and is very difficult to read. Bad punctuation and spelling have exactly the same effect on the reader, so why should that be any less frowned-upon than SHOUTING?

The fact is, the internet is a written medium. You wouldn't be expected to be taken seriously in the world of music if you were unable to hold a tune or play an instrument, so why should people on the 'net take you seriously if you can't string a sentence together properly?

ChrisB

Goo?

jasey

MarkO - Being able to spell and use correct grammar doesn't prevent one from being bigoted - does it ?

scooby_si

2b fair thou i think that's his point it's not about reality, whether more bigoted or wotever, he is merely saying how it may come across more that way.
Still guna b lazy thou
Si

MarkO

Jasey, Scooby_si has hit the nail on the head. Obviously, plenty of people who can spell/punctuate are bigoted, and the majority of those who can't spell/punctuate aren't bigoted at all. But it's all about perception to the reader. Perhaps I'm different to everyone else, but I naturally and instinctively endow greater respect on those who write clearly and legibly than to those that don't - at least until I've got to know them and their posting styles. First impressions, an' all that.

Oh, and ChrisB - sorry about the typo, but I knew if I edited it everyone would probably accuse me of editing it to fix my bad spelling.

Alpine99

If the person typing is too lazy to type something legible, I'm too lazy to be bothered to read it.. Everyone's happy!

bros2

[Edited by bros2 - 7/2/2003 2:48:14 PM]

Daz WRX

Blimey, a three page long thread on spelling.
This is a little excessive don't you think? If you have a problem with reading any posts then don't read them, simple.

Re-read.....Oh my god, hope I didn't make any errors!

Oh purple and turtle rhymes but what about orange?

Re-read.....Oh my god, hope I didn't make any errors!

So why do we use smileys instead of words as well, is it because we are all lazy or is that our creativeness?

Re-read.....Oh my god, hope I didn't make any errors!

Just my 2p worth, not the best speller/punctuator in the world...
Daz.

scooby_si

arrr shurup lol
Si
PS i may actually take more time 2 spell correctly actually dont wana give the wrong impression

MarkO

Heh heh. Only 3 pages - I haven't even got started on Capitalisation yet.

I mean, whether you know how to spell or punctuate, I can't see that anyone has an excuse for not using the shift key correctly.

jasey

MarkO - I agree with you on the grammar front if you can't string together a sentence decent difficult it becomes understand said is trying to. Thats same not as spelling and ignorance makes not

MarkO

Jasey, I think you should stop letting Yoda use your Scoobynet account.

DrEvil

Has anybody considered that regardless of how well someone is educated they might suffer from being dyslexic, be it mild or otherwise.

I've only recently found this out about myself, which means some of my gramar/spelling is a little out at times.

TelBoy

Dr Evil, yup, was discussed at length the last time this came up. Of course nobody's intentionally criticising anybody suffering from dyslexia, i think the things being referred to are the obvious bad spelling and grammatical errors.

How many times have you seen lose spelt as loose on here? Why? Ok, it doesn't really matter, but why not get it right? To me, it shows that people don't read very much - a common failing of blokes, which i think is a great shame. They're missing so much.

Oi Mark! In the point of capitalisation, why does "i" have to be in upper case, eh?! Answer me that one, without a "that's the rules" answer!

MarkO

TelBoy - 'I' is capitalised because it is a pronoun, in the same way as 'Mark' & 'Telboy' are capitalised.